Cats Of Spirit
by Konsui's Little Brother
Summary: It started when the forest was destroyed, when four new groups of cats took over, but it's not something that will end when they die. These cats will forever guide their charges; in life, death, and spirit.  Change of style from chapter 3 and up.
1. Dewcloud

SPIRIT CLAN

LEADER

Dewcloud: Blueish-gray tabby she-cat with white paws and a white tip on her left ear, green eyes. Guardian of all four clans.

Blood dripped from her front shoulder, it ran down her leg and stained the white on her paw, where a large gash had been opened. Bursts of pain shot through the leg every time she placed it down and caused her to stagger as she moved her way through the battle. Dew was just a kit, only five moons old, and so her small body went unnoticed in the fighting.

A large tom rushed by her, one paw reaching out and swatting her away, and she was sent rolling across the ground. Sharp stones and brambles caught at her fur; it tore and pulled at her skin. Despite her best efforts to be quiet a low, shrill, wail burst from her throat.

Her rolling motion was stopped only when she hit a large rock that was protruding out of the ground. Pain racked through her body and she struggled to get to her feet. Dew might have just been a kit, completely untrained in the ruthless ways of the clans, but she knew that if she stayed where she was the other cats would kill her. She also knew that if the fighting kept up like it was, every one else would die as well.

It was a struggle for Dew to get to her feet again, her whole body shook from the effort, but she managed it.

A wail from her left caught her attention briefly, two cats she didn't know were locked in battle near her, but she shook her head and tried to get back to what she'd been doing. If she could get to the leader of her makeshift clan, Lightening, then she might be able to do something. Maybe talk him into retreating or...Something. She couldn't just let all of her clan-mates die here though!

Pinning her ears to the back of her head, green eyes narrowing into determined slits, Dew started to weave her way through the fighting again. It was slower going than before because every step she took, every time she breathed really, pain would shoot through her body. But it didn't stop her.

She ducked under a ginger tom, from Breeze's clan it smelled like, and swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid being hit by a barreling she-cat. No one seemed to notice her as she crossed the battle field. At least, no one cared that she was there. A kit in the midst of a bloody fight.

Dew wasn't the only one of her age involved in the battle though. Other kits, some even younger than she was, were in the fight as well. They were struggling to stay with their mothers and fathers; to stay with cats that would protect them. But many had already died, killed off like they were prey, and their bodies now littered the moore that they were fighting on.

Lightening's brown pelt was visible through the throng of cats now. He was on his hind legs, front paws griping the shoulders of a cat from Stream's clan. And then, just like that, he was gone. Lost in the crowd around him.

Letting out a sullen wail, because she couldn't see him anymore and she didn't think that she could make herself walk much longer, Dew threw herself forewards in an attempt to catch up to her leader.

She had to catch her leader.

Had to tell him that the fight had to be stopped; cat's were dieing and it was a stupid battle anyway.

Had to ignore the pain that was coursing through her body and the blackness that was creeping into her vision.

And then a paw slammed into her. Claws ripped into her side and then she was rolling across the ground again. Only, suddenly the ground wasn't there any more and she was falling.

Her paws flung out around her, Dew raked at the air and the stone that she was slamming into and whatever else her paws came into contact with. Pain shot through her paws, up her legs, in her side and on her back. And all she could think about was that she still had to find Lightening.

Somewhere above her, she heard a she-cat let out a wail, and the thought that she recognized it briefly crossed her mind. And then it was gone and she was swiping at the air again and then suddenly...

Pain. Scorching, searing, eating away at her fur and her pelt and, oh Starclan it hurt, pain. And then, just like that, it was gone and she was bathed in darkness. Just blackness, a simple and soothing color, and the pain was gone.

_There was another cat in the distance. Dew could tell because, even though she couldn't see it, a gentle wind was blowing the scent towards her. It wasn't a scent that she recognized, not of any of the clans that she knew, but somehow she was certain that the cat it belonged too wouldn't hurt her._

_Padding across the blackness, Dew followed the scent right into...nothing. It was just gone suddenly and she was alone again. But it didn't scare her for some reason._

_'You are a brave kit, Dew.' The voice seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. It hit the darkness and bounced back at her, like an echo in a cave, and there was no way for Dew to tell where it had come from. 'A brave kit who's life ended far too soon. Do you know what happened, kit?'_

_Know what happened? Dew tilted her head to the side and looked up at where the sky should have been. "I was out on the moore trying to find Lightening. That cat, the one that hit me, he knocked me into the gorge didn't he?"_

_The thought hadn't been in her mind when it first happened but now, if she thought about it, that was the only thing that made sense. She knew that having the battle be so close to the gorge had been a mouse-brained idea. The whole fight was mouse-brained, started because they couldn't decide where each clans borders would be._

_'Yes, kit. That is what happened. But you are not ready to join us here in Starclan yet. You have a greater purpose, should you accept it that is. No one will force you Dew.' _

_"No," Dew kept her voice strong as she looked up at the sky which, one by one, was slowly filling up with twinkeling stars. "I want to. It's to help my clan right? That's why I'm here, so that you can tell me what to do to stop the fight."_

_There was a sort of sadness in the voice when it spoke next and it made Dew wonder what she had said. 'Kit...Yes. That is why you are. You are here because you can stop this fighting. Your clans do not know of the Warrior Code yet. They do not follow it and because of that, this fighting is doomed to repeat itself.'_

_"Than what am I supposed to do? I can't tell them what to do! I'm just a kit, none of them will listen to me!" Panic started to seep into Dew's voice now. _

_'And yet you fought so desperatly to stop it once already. Dew. Are you willing to follow the path that only you can take? To stay here, in the forest, for all the moons to come?'Because if you are than you can save all of the cats you have grown up with and all the cats to come.'_

_"I...I would never be able to go to Starclan?" Dew questioned, head tilted up at the sky. There wasn't any answer but that was an answer in itself. "I...I'll do it. I'll do what ever I have to. Just tell me what to do! I'll do it!"_

_'I, Thunderstar, bless you with the grace of Starclan. From this moment on you will be known as Dewcloud, leader of the Spirit Cats! You shall be the sole guardian of Lighteningclan, Breezeclan, Darkclan, and Streamclan and shall guide their pawsteps. Other cats, those whos journeys are not complete, will join you but you will forever be their leader.'_

_'Dewcloud, return now to the battlefield. You will be seen, this one time only, and you will give the clans a message. Tell them to send their leaders, Stream, Dark, Lightening, and Breeze, to the Moonstone. There, they will be spoken to and the battle will end for good. They will listen to you now, Dewcloud. They will hear your voice for you will be the voice of nature.'_

_"The voice...Of nature?" The newly name Dewcloud blinked before bowing her head towards the voice. "I won't disspoint you Thunderstar. I will lead the Spirit Cats with honor and no complaint. Just..." Here she started to back up the way she had come. "Thank you for letting me save them."_

_And then Dewcloud, no longer in the body of kit but that of a fully grown warrior, turned around and ran full force through the darkness. She would do what Thunderstar told her to do. She would live life, or rather death, knwing she would never make it to Starclan. She would lead these other cats as they cam to her. She would save her clan._

No cat saw her as she weaved her way through the fighting. Many cats had died, their fallen bodies littering the ground, and the cats that hadn't were on their last leg. Dewcloud could feel the exhaustion that floated in the air as she made her way to the center of the moore-land.

Every step she took more became clear to her. She could see the tracks that prey had made fleeing the scene when everything had started at sunrise that day; she could hear the wind that blew gently through the trees. Little things that she had never noticed before were clear as day to her now.

She didn't notice how with every step she took, new grass sprung from beneath her paws, and the ground around her cracked and splintered. But the cats that were fighting did. Even though they couldn't see her, not yet, they could see the devastation that she left behind her. And it scared them.

Hackles raised, fangs bared, the cats backed away from the still invisible Dewcloud. She stopped in the middle of what had been the battlefield and looked around at the now cowering cats. Blood and dirt matted their fur, fear ran through their eyes, but they still weren't running. No, that wasn't something that any of them did. It was why this fight had gone on for so long, a fight to the death between all the cats.

And then, up above her, a single star glittered brighter than the others and all the cats could _see_ Dewcloud standing there. Her green eyes sought out the four cats she needed, the four responsible for the pain brought out today, and she felt a grim satisfaction at the fact that they were limping out towards her already.

"Who are you?" One of them spat out. The black pelted cat, black as the very sky above them, was the one demanding answers. Dark had always been like that though. Always needing to know what was going on, using the knowledge he gained to plan his next move, as though everyone around him were nothing more than pawns.

It was a shame that Dewcloud wasn't a pawn any more.

"My name is Dewcloud, a kit from Lightening's clan, and you aren't the one to be asking questions Dark. You need to be listening to what I have to say." As she spoke, the wind around her picked up. Trees seemed to sway and groan, warning cats that looked as if they were about to flee to stay where they were, and she finally understood what Thunderstar meant about being the 'voice of nature'.

And so Dewcloud told the cats gathered below her the message that Thunderstar had given her. She told them where to meet him and then she told them all to flee to their camps. They would collect the fallen cats in the morning, peacefully and without incident, and that she would be watching them.

And then, without a single mention of the Spirit Cats that she would lead, Dewcloud's body shimmered and faded away. She was still standing there, watching as the injured cats retreated to their make-shift camps, but no one could see her now. And no one would see her again for a very long time.

That was just the life of a Spirit Cat.

888-269-9693


	2. Rippedheart

A/N: Look, I'm alive! Not that anyone cares about that when it comes to this story, but whatever. *shrugs* I've decided to finish this story, because I've recently become re-obsessed with the Warriors series. After this chapter, the writing style will probably change a little because it's been a while since I've done anything in this story and, as it is with everyone, I take a new approach to my stories. Hope anyone that reads this will still enjoy it and will look forewards to the next chapter!

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Rippedheart: A gray she-cat, blue eyes. Former medicine cat of Breezeclan. Guardian of half-clan and forbidden kits.

* * *

She heard them. The snears and muttered comments about her; the ridicule for what she was, like she had been able to control it. It was like they thought that it was her fault that her mother had left them, her fault she wasn't full blooded Breezeclan, or that Swiftstar had died.

But Rippedheart ignored them all. She didn't need to hear them talking, talking like she wasn't there, to know that she was filth. No better than the filth that had killed their leader, attacked him coming back from a _gathering_ no less, when he was on his final life.

Rippedheart knew that wasn't her fault that he'd died though. No medicine cat would have been able to save him. Not with the way his throat was torn up. The clan didn't seem to care though; they blamed it on her inability to be a medicine cat.

No, they blamed it on being a half-clan cat. Because that was what she was. Rippedheart, medicine cat of Breezedclan, born from two clans. A disgrace to Breezeclan. She knew that but it wasn't why Swiftstar had died.

He had died because he was a gluttonous old fool that thought no one would retaliate when he tried to take Streamclan's territory. The tom should have been on his paws, whether it was a fullmoon or not, if he was planning on stealing what was rightfully another clan's territory.

Of course, no one would ever say that aloud. Not even if every cat in the clan thought that which, by the way, they did. It just wasn't right to disgrace their leader, someone they had fought under for many moons, that way after his death.

Shaking her head, as though the action would actually clear the thoughts from her mind, Rippedheart tried to force her attention back onto the herbs that she was sorting. She'd spent the day out collecting them, on her own, like she had the past few days. Her stock was exceptionally low after Leaf-Bare but she couldn't get any cat to come out and help her collect them. Not that it was a surprise, really, even the kits were starting not to trust her. Taking after the way their parents behaved around her.

Biting the stalk of the chervil off, near the bottom, she carefully placed it in the steadily growing pile a few paces behind her. Yesterday she had spent her time collecting spiderwebs, harder to come by then she thought they would be, and today it would be chervile. Tomorrow she'd have to find somewhere to replenish her supply of Mousebile; the elders were starting to complain without it.

Just as she turned around to bite off another piece of chervil, she heard a rustling off to one side of her. She froze, fully aware of how close to Lighteningclan's border she was, knowing that she wouldn't be able to fight off anyone. But when she turned to look, she saw no one but Ambershine.

The light orange tabby she-cat was standing just a few feet away from her. An odd look on her face, one like she was telling herself whatever she was there to do had to be done, and a determined set to her shoulders and paws.

"Ambershine! What are you doing here? Is everything okay back at the camp?" Rippedheart questioned, the worry in her voice was impossible to miss. Even if her clan hated her, thought she was no more than crow-food, she still cared for them. And she didn't want to see anything bad happen to one of them because she wasn't around.

"Everything's fine. But it will be better soon..." Ambershine's words lacked her usual kind lilt to them, as they often did when she spoke to Rippedheart. But this time, instead of just not being there, they had been replaced with a different sort of tone. One of hatred and disgust that Rippedheart recognized all too well.

"What do you me-" The gray she-cat's words were cut off when the larger, significantly more muscled, she-cat lunged at her.

Claws raked across her face; blood welled from the scratches and dripped into her eyes, stinging and burning and blinding. A cuff over the head knocked her down; he rbreath coming in short terrified gasps as she tried to scramble, still on her stomache, away from the orange she-cat.

Ambershine's body slammed into her, rolling her over onto her back, before she dug claws into the defenseless cat's shoulders. She raked them down the other cats stomache, blood welling up in their wake, as Rippedheart screached below her, sounds of agony filling the forest.

But Ambershine wasn't there to drag it out. The clan had sent her to get rid of Rippedheart and get rid of her quickly. So quickly she would. Lifting one paw up, claws out, she brought it down onto her victims neck.

There was a satisfying gurgling noise as Ambershine pulled away, blood staining her pelt, and turned to dissapear back into the moore. There was no reason to stay there anymore. Her job was done and she had an evening patrol to go on.

It was odd. Rippedheart could hear her breaths coming out in pained gurgles; taste the blood that was welling up in her mouth. She could feel where her skin had been torn; dark red staining her gray fur. Her vision was starting to get hazy; black spreading from the corners of her eyes, blocking out everything. But she wasn't surprised.

Maybe she was surprised that Ambershine had been the one to come and kill her but not that her clan wanted her gone that badly. She had seen their looks grow more and more hateful over the last few moons, seen the way they spoke about her in groups of two's and three's. And somehow, in the back of her mind, she knew that this had been coming.

But then the blackness that had been around the edges of her vision grew, blocking out everything else, and she thought no more.

_"Rippedheart. A name that means so much yet stands for so little. Are you really ready to give up that quickly?" The voice echoed out of the darkness, loud and commanding. _

_Rippedheart cowered, ears pressing against her head, and looked around. There was nothing around her to give away the cat who'd spoken, though. Just darkness. Complete darkness._

_"Who's there?" She meowed, voice barely above a whisper. She was surprised that it wasn't shaking._

_"Someone that can give you direction you've never before recieved. It's not your time to join us in Starclan, Rippedheart. But there is no longer a place for you among the cats of the forest."_

_"Then where am I supposed to go?" Rippedheart called, still looking around to try to find the cat that was speaking. To find anything. The emptyness surrounding her was terriffing, so blank and cold. Almost unwelcoming. "Please, tell me!"_

_There was no answer._

_"Please!" She called again._

_Again, the voice didn't speak. But she could make out a soft glow in the distance, far off, just a faint blue light. It was from this light that the answer came, in a different softer voice than the one Rippedheart had been talking too. "Hello, Rippedheart. I'm sorry to meet you under such awful circumstances. I have a question for you, though."_

_A question? Rippedheart blinked, padding foreward a few steps. But it was hard to move. Her paws seemed frozen to the blackness below her. "What is it? Who are you? Please! Tell me what's going on!"_

_"My name is Dewcloud, and I have come to ask you to join me. Not as a Starclan cat, but as a cat of the forest. A cat of spirit. I protect those that need it and guide their pawsteps, helping them along, leading them from the darkness. And you, Rippedheart, are a cat who could help me do this." The voice stayed soft, but there was a new strength in it as Dewcloud spoke. "Even though you have been shunned by your clan, you have stayed loyal to them. You have loved them and done your best to save them all. And there are still cats you wish to protect, are there not?"_

_Rippedheart found her mind flashing to Swallowflight and Poppypaw, her sister and her niece, and gave a slow nod. It was true. She would do anything to protect them. To keep them safe from the hate that she had always been forced to live with. "There...There are."_

_The light was suddenly much closer to her, revealing the fact that inside it was a small cat. A blue-grey tabby with white on a single paw and the tip of her tail, and green eyes that bore straight into Rippedheart's soul. "Then join me. Help me protect them, and all the cats that will come after. Help me guide their pawsteps down the right path."_

_And when Rippedheart nodded, because there was nothing else she could do, not when it meant protecting her family, the softest of smile appeared on Dewcloud's face._

_The blackness rippled and swayed...Then it dissapeared._

Rippedheart found herself back in the forest, standing over her own bloodied body and watching as Ambershine slunk back off towards camp.

But she wasn't alone, not anymore, for by her side stood Dewcloud.


	3. Grasscloud

A/N: I hope that the style change doesn't throw anyone off! Maybe it will even bring more people in *hopeful, hopeful*! Enjoy!

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Grasscloud: A brown tom with scraggly fur, bright green eyes. Former Riverclan warrior. Guardian of all clan leaders.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Breezeclan is planning another attack." Waterstar meowed, voice ringing across the camp. Echoing in the crowd of cats beneath her, as though her words were all that anyone in her clan could hear.

As though the whimpers of Minnowsplash, curled up in the Medicine Cats den, weren't there. Like they couldn't hear the scared mews of the kits as they huddled closer to their mothers, Whisperkit and Loudkit ducking back into the Nursery and away from the meeting.

Like they weren't all scared. Terrified, really, because they knew that they couldn't survive another attack.

Breezeclan was determined to make them surrender or to kill them all off; to get their territory and drive Streamclan away from the forest.

So those simple words, they meant to much more then they normally did.

"I don't want to flee and I don't want to give up my home. Whatever you choose, I'm going to stay and fight. I won't make any of you, though. You are all free to do what you wish. I won't send any more cats to their death." Waterstar's light blue eyes scanned the crowd. She was a strong cat, but she was on her last life and was still suffering wounds from the last battle with Breezeclan; a long open slash on her left flank and the tired air around her betrayed how steady and calm her voice was.

Most of the warriors of Streamclan were still hurt. The last battle, one that took place just on the edge of the river that ran through their home, had been a fierce one. Most of them were dead.

Everycat knew that it wasn't a battle that they most likely wouldn't win.

As such, no one stepped foreward. They started up at their leader with wide, scared eyes. Not wanting ehr to go out to battle alone but not really wanting to join her. Even the deputy of Streamclan, Ripplepond, didn't join Waterstar at the front of the clan. He stood back, with everyone else, apologies swimming in his eyes; he still had a mate that he had to think about, kits that would soon be born and would need a father. He couldn't join her.

Ripplepond was just about to tell her this when the cat beside him moved.

Grasscloud was one of the most expierence warriors in the clan; retiring age nearly upon him, and many scars showed through his scraggly brown pelt. He was a warrior before Waterstar had even been born and most cats respected him.

The old tom-cat padded away from the group of clanmates. Stopping just a few feet away from Waterstar and dipping his head. "I will always fight with you, Waterstar. If you go out to fight them, I'll be right by your side."

Waterstar blinked, taken a back. She hadn't actually expected anyone to join her. She thought that she would be meeting Breezeclan on her own, dieing outside of the camp by herself. She'd excepted that; knowing someone would be by her side, it surprised her.

"Are you sure, Grasscloud? This fight...I don't think we'll live through it." Waterstar told him, blue eyes soft and caring. She didn't mind going out on her own. It meant less cats dieing around her.

The warrior shook his head though, tail-tip twitching. "I'm positive. I have no mate and no kits. This clan is my family, this camp my home." Grasscloud paused for a moment before finishing with a solemn meow. "And you're my leader, Waterstar. When you took that name, I promised that I would stand by you, no matter what the cost. We will fight together."

Waterstar was silent, shocked. She knew most cats had been opposed to her becoming leader because she was so young. She didn't realize that she had the support of someone as respected as Grasscloud. And she couldn't think of anything else to say, so she thanked him.

It was his words that spurred guilt in the rest of his clanmates, most of them looking away from their leader. Several murmurred excuses for why they were still going to stay, several didn't say anything.

Rainfrost, a light grey queen whose kits had been killed in the last fight, pushed her way through the crowd to join Waterstar and Grasscloud by the entrance to Streamclan's camp. "I'll fight with you too, Waterstar."

Willowheart and Tornclaw left the crowd next; one a warrior, the other an elder. Others followed and, soon, the remnants of Streamclan had joined Waterstar.

The young leader had never been more thankful for Grasscloud. She knew that if he hadn't come foreward, saying what he had, then she would have left the camp by herself. Instead, they left as one. As family. Prepared to meet Breezeclan when they crossed the border.

Only the kits stayed behind, a single warrior, Flashstrike, to help them join Breezeclan if Streamclan fell.

Just as Waterstar had thought, Breezeclan tried to cross that border that night. Hawkstar seemed surprised that there were so many cats there to resist him, but the call to fight came within seconds.

The leader of Streamclan was quickly lost from her clanmates, dissapearing into the yowling mass of writhing and clawing cats. They were too focused on their own fights to try and protect their leader; too busy trying to survive themselves, to protect themselves, to worry about protecting her.

A large ginger tom from Breezeclan, Featherdrop, charged Grasscloud. The brown tom ducked, avoiding the impact, but Featherdrop twisted in mid-leap and raked his claws aross his flank. The Streamclan warrior yowled and struck out, glancing his enemy on the shoulder. Featherdrop stumbled when he landed, another Streamclan cat leaping onto his shoulders.

Grasscloud wasted no time in slinking away from the brawl; ducking under another set of claws and twisting around Willowheart's fallen body. As he ran through the crowd of cats, ears pricked forewards as he listened, trying desperatly to find the cat he was looking for, Grasscloud was vaguely aware of the blood and dirt that clung to his paws as he ran, not really noticing the other cats around him.

Not until he heard her yowl, one of pain and fright and anger and so many other things, and he turned so fast that he nearly tripped over himself. Waterstar had been cornered by three of Breezeclan's warriors; two Grasscloud recognized, Toadleap and Harepelt, and a third whose name he couldn't remember. Blood soaked his leaders pelt, running down her side and her legs, trickling from one shredded ear and running into her eyes. She was holding her front leg off the ground, something clearly wrong with the twisted looking paw.

Toadleap growled and took a step foreward, slow and threatening, and Harepelt bared his teeth. The third cat had slipped off into the crowd, evidently satisfied that Waterstar would be gotten rid of. To her credit, Waterstar growled right back, showing no signs of retreating. She would fight to the end, just like she had told her clan she would.

Harepelt leaped, claws out, and let out another yowl.

Grasscloud followed suit, fury racing through his veins. He slammed into the tawny warrior, knocking him from the air and sinking his fangs into the soft flesh of Harepelt's shoulder. Both cats hit the ground, air rushing from their bodies, and rolled a few steps before breaking apart. Blood dripped from the Streamclan tom's mouth, and he narrowed his eyes as he back up to stand beside his leader.

How dare they attack her when she was so obviously defeated! How dare they even think about killing her! Had they no honor? No, he thought angrily, letting out a threatening snarl, of course they didn't. That's why they were here in the first place, because they had no honor and no more respect for the Warrior Code.

As Harepelt struggled to his feet, Toadleap slashed out with one clawed paw. Grasscloud ducked, countering with his own swipe, satisfied when his claws caught the Breezeclan cat's chest.

"Don't touch her!" Grasscloud hissed, hackles raised. "Don't you dare lay another paw on her!"

Toadleap let out a bark of amused laughter, throwing his head back in amusement. "Really? You're still going to fight for her? She's the reason that you're all going to die today! If she had just surrendered in the first place, maybe Hawkstar would have let you join us!"

Hareleap nodded, once again joining Toadleap in front of Waterstar and Grasscloud. "She should have just accepted Hawkstar's offer."

"And let you chase us from our home?" Grasscloud hissed, green eyes narrowing. "I'd rather die here tonight then live with you mouse-brained cats!"

And he flung himself at them again; time speeding and claws flying, blood being drawn on both sides and yowls of h=pain and hate being shouted. Adrenaline raced through Grasscloud, anger and hatred and love for his clan and his leader fueling his strength.

It was Toadleap that fell first, though not before leaving a painful gash on Grasscloud's side.

The fight didn't end though and it all seemed like a blur. Grasscloud was moving purely on instinct, purely on the thought that if he fell, they would kill Waterstar. Kill his leader. Destroy his clan and his home, take all that he held close to his heart.

And he didn't want that.

Didn't want to know that he had failed his clan and his leader.

So he fought Harepelt and, when that cat slunk off, Grasscloud stayed in front of his wounded leader and fought all that came near him.

It was when the battle was drawing to a close that Swiftstep, the deputy of Breezeclan, slammed into Grasscloud. Pain shot through the Streamclan warrior, claws tore into his flesh and teeth into his scruff, and he found himself unable to do anything but flail as he tried to get away.

In the background, a distorted yowl sounded over the battle.

Grasscloud wasn't alive to hear the words.

_He was standing in a mist-covered field, alone and unharmed. There was no battle, no cries, no cats. Just the mist that seemed to lay over the field like a heavy blanket of snow in Leafbare._

_"Hello?" Grasscloud called out. He took a few cautious steps foreward, surprised when the ground beneath him seemed to ripple around his paws._

_"Grasscloud, welcome." A deep voice said, echoing around him and coming from everywhere at once. "I am sorry to see you in our ranks so soon."_

_Those words sparked a trickle of fear in Grasscloud, ear flattening against his head and tail drooping. He was a wise cat and he knew what that meant. That he had died in that fight, killed by Swiftstep and failing in his duties. Waterstar had probably been killed the moment his dead body hit the ground; and it was for her he felt sorrow for, not for himself. He was getting on in moons and knew that his time would come soon._

_He just wished that he'd been able to make sure someone else was around to protect his leader before he fell._

_Almost as if the mystery cat had read his thoughts, which he very well might have, a soft purr of amusement filled the air around him. "That's why you're here, Grasscloud, instead of in the ranks of Moonclan. Because it is not your own life you care for, but for that of your leader. Above all else, it was she who you fought and gave your life for."_

_"If I'm not in Moonclan..." Grasscloud asked, eyes flicking around to the empty field he was standing in, tail and ears twitching ever so slightly. "Then...Where am I?"_

_"You are nowhere. And you are everywhere." The voice said. "You are in the very essence of nature. And it is here that I, Streamstar, offer you a choice."_

_"A choice?" Grasscloud echoed, voice questioning. _

_"Yes." Streamstar's voice purred. "A choice. To join Moonclan and your ancestors, or to stay in the forest forever; as a spirit and a guardian to the leaders of the present and the future. Of every clan and every generation, whether their choices are one you support or not."_

_It was said with a purr but, Grasscloud couldn't help but think that it sounded sad. Almost as though Streamstar was regretting the words he was saying. But the words struck a chord in his heart and he knew that there was only one answer he could give. "I would love to be able to help those cats, Streamstar. Just...Just tell me what I need to do."_

_But there was nothing else said, just a flash of light, and Grasscloud felt a tug in his chest as the mist-covered field dissapeared._

When Grasscloud next opened his eyes, it was to the river that his clan had been fighting beside. Blood and fallen cats covered the ground, from both clans, and the cats still alive were all sporting heavy wounds. There were no Breezeclan cats in sight and the realization made his heart, unbeating, soar.

He padded across the battlefield, careful not to touch any of the remaining Streamclan cats. It was obvious that they couldn't see him, but whether they could feel him or not he didn't know. He figured it would be best to just not take the chance of touching them.

"She's with Pondpaw. By the border."

Grasscloud spun around, fur raising, only to come face to face with a small she-cat. There was a rippling quality to her appearence, as though she was made out of the air itself, and it sent shivers across his spine. She was the same as he was, though he didn't know why he could tell that. He didn't stop to think about it either.

Finding Waterstar was still his top priority.


End file.
